That's a waste of money that is, so it is.

schnitzelEater

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Thread smells like poor people.

And poor people smell of faeces?

Mr Whirly

Duggy747 wrote: »

Buys Beats headphones.

Listens to 192kbps mp3s.

If you have crap headphones your crap mp3's will sound even worse.

I know Beats are a bit **** but saying you shouldn't invest in decent headphones for mp3's is nonsense.

carlmango11

summerskin wrote: »

No, I think they're a waste because idiots pay over the odds for tacky refills of mass branded shît like starbucks and costa in little plastic pots, rather than just buying either a: decent coffee or b: an actual espresso machine.

15 years in France, Italy, NY and London taught me all about good coffee, son.

I've also lived in France.

One of my good friends who I shared an apartment with for 6 months is Italian. He would be the last to drink a cup of filter coffee. He also quite liked Costa when he visited Dublin, also Café Nero when we were in London.

But condescending Mr. Traveled-The-World-And-Lets-You-Know is never wrong of course. I actually cringed a little bit from the "son" at the end.

speedboatchase

Buying a plain old cup of tea in Spar or somewhere like that. You're paying for a tea bag and hot water and there's absolutely zero skill required on the part of the person selling it to you. How can a cup of tea cost more than even 10c or so?!

yeppydeppy

Psychics, reiki, homeopathy, all psydosciences as well as giving money to religions.

sh1tstirrer

becost wrote: »

Flashy and expensive brand name deodorants. The air fresheners in the 2 euro shop smell much nicer and last twice as long.

Better still open a window and let mother nature take care of the smell at zero cost

Birthday parties I remember not so long ago that women kept their ages secret after turning 21 now they have parties for every decade.

Smoking total waste of money.

Weddings.

Easter eggs.

corktina

Deleted User wrote: »

Extended warranties, if it survives the first year, chances are it will last its lifetime - whatever time the manufactures decide that is (usually shorter than you'd like).

now you said it, I gave my last but one PC to my son when it was on it's last legs and it's still going and I just gave him the one that replaced it, which magically started working properly again once I'd bought a replacement.:mad: Never learn do I!

Mr Benevolent

corktina wrote: »

now you said it, I gave my last but one PC to my son when it was on it's last legs and it's still going and I just gave him the one that replaced it, which magically started working properly again once I'd bought a replacement.:mad: Never learn do I!

Computers (and electronics in general) get on with some people. With other people computers seem to just give up. Seen it many times.

corktina

did anyone say "atari jaguar" or "tracker mortgage"(i don't know what is) yet?

Only I got to page seven and I've lost the will to live.

flutterflye

southsiderosie wrote: »

Wedding dresses.
Wedding favors.
Dry rubbery chicken with overcooked vegetables at wedding receptions.
Wedding receptions in general.
Wedding invitations.
Wedding cakes.

So, pretty much everything associated with the wedding-industrial complex.

The one thing I would gladly pay a lot of money for is the photographer - nobody cares about your save the date cards of the napkins with your names on them, but the pictures last forever.

I spent a lot of money on my dress and photographer, even though I completely agree that wedding dresses are a waste, but at the same time - I NEEDED it!

Anyway, everything else I got cheaply enough, like I did my make up myself etc... and I wasn't going to get invitations, cake, flowers and decorations, favours etc etc...

But my aunt nearly had a heart attack when she heard this and took it upon herself to either buy all that 'extra' stuff for me, or organised people she knew to do them for free.

And in fairness, all the extras did add to the overall effect, and I am so, so grateful to her - Probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, but if she hadn't done that, I would have been perfectly happy going without.

I really don't understand the need to pay stupid amounts of money on the one day.

Zillah

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Going for a meal pissed - what a waste. Burger or kebab suffices when drunk.

anncoates wrote: »

Expensive meals full stop.

I'll go because my partner likes it, but just don't see the point myself.

Oh man, its like we're from two different species. Having drunk fancy dinners is one of my favourite things to do.

The Cool

Apple products and iTunes. I will admit I've an ipod cos at the time I bought it there were no decent ones by other brands. But forking over 1400 for a laptop just seems ridiculous to me. As for iTunes - on the bus home at Christmas I wanted to download a movie to watch on the ipod, felt like Muppets Christmas Carol (has to be done) but it was €10 to download. I don't mind paying for actual DVDs, but considering all it'll do it sit on your ipod/computer I think that is extortionate.

Expensive toilet roll.

Really expensive beauty products - I look at the likes of MAC beauty tools, brushes and the like that girls pay hundreds of quid for. Why?!

Mad drunken nights out where you wake up the next morning with no memory of it and missing €50+ out of your wallet. You could spend that on a concert or something and then at least you'd have the experience and memories.

Really expensive headphones. I appreciate that the sound is better but I dont think that's worth spending €200 on.

Buying clothes from stores like Warehouse and Topshop in Ireland. I've seen a tag on a dress that said £60/€99 in Topshop, which to me just proves all you're doing is lining somebody's pockets.

Irish Guitarist

Men that get their face shaved by a barber. The stubble grows back the next day and you have to shave your own face again (unless you're made of money and can afford to go to the barbers every day).

keithclancy

Hamiltonion wrote: »

I honestly think anyone who claims this has never had a mac. Better build quality, more stable, no bloatware, don't need to install updates every time I turn in on, boots up in about 7 seconds. I got the macbook air (previously had a top of the line Vaio - now that was a waste of money) and will never look back. I can balance it open on the palm of my hand ffs

Granted I use it for live music/production/photoshop as well as college work but it's the best investment I ever made. In about 2 years I'll still be able to get a good price for it, a pc loses half its value the moment you open the box

I'd tend to disagree, when Mac OS goes tits up you're banjaxed since the majority of Mac users are pointy clicky Internet Surfers, there's not as much information on how to resolve it.

I got my 'Wintel' laptop and immediately wiped it and put on a Fresh copy of Windows with Microsoft Security essentials.

There's little to fix a showstopper beyond a system restore.

Your also limited to the accessories you can use and there's a huge markup on the stuff.

Apple have a massive margin on hardware, they give their employees a 27% Discount on Hardware and they still make a profit.

Have a Mac and a PC at home, both do the job, the Mac just cost more.

Call Apple support and they'll tell you to 'reset the PRAM' and charge you money unless you have that Applecare b0llocks outside your 90 days phone support.

aujopimur

wolfpawnat wrote: »

SIL got one, 500, 250 alterations, 230 dry cleaning afterwards, and the coup de gras...... 120 for a box to store it in. I just laughed!

I used the wedding dress to insulate the pipes in the attic one cold winters night, that was long before the divorce.

Hoop66

Mr Whirly wrote: »

If you have crap headphones your crap mp3's will sound even worse.

I know Beats are a bit **** but saying you shouldn't invest in decent headphones for mp3's is nonsense.

But if you're listening to 192kbps MP3s then it doesn't matter what you use, they will still sound shit.

So, step 1 - get some decent quality MP3s, before you start buying what you think are decent headphones.

Duggy747

Mr Whirly wrote: »

I know Beats are a bit **** but saying you shouldn't invest in decent headphones for mp3's is nonsense.

Well, I didn't say anything about how people shouldn't invest in decent headphones, you did.

If you're going to spend big on headphones then you should at least have the right quality / format of audio to put them to use.

the groutch

anything made by Apple.

eamonnq

carlmango11 wrote: »

But condescending Mr. Traveled-The-World-And-Lets-You-Know is never wrong of course. I actually cringed a little bit from the "son" at the end.

Mr. Traveled-'The-World' is a bit of a stretch, he was outside of Europe once !!;)

Duggys Housemate

keithclancy wrote: »

I'd tend to disagree, when Mac OS goes tits up you're banjaxed since the majority of Mac users are pointy clicky Internet Surfers, there's not as much information on how to resolve it.

I got my 'Wintel' laptop and immediately wiped it and put on a Fresh copy of Windows with Microsoft Security essentials.

There's little to fix a showstopper beyond a system restore.

Your also limited to the accessories you can use and there's a huge markup on the stuff.

Apple have a massive margin on hardware, they give their employees a 27% Discount on Hardware and they still make a profit.

Have a Mac and a PC at home, both do the job, the Mac just cost more.

Call Apple support and they'll tell you to 'reset the PRAM' and charge you money unless you have that Applecare b0llocks outside your 90 days phone support.

Yawn. And yet most Macs don't need to be re-installed.

Macs are more expensive that PC's. They also hold their value ( so are probably cheaper over all).

In other news, some cars are massively more expensive than others. The upset with Macs is they are a mass market product in a market which is so commodified that all other varieties cost the same. Cars, on the other hand, vary by thousands of percentages from cheap to expensive. By and large, the difference can't be justified with price.

I have a Mac but not a car. Don't need one in the city, rent when I need one for w/es. However I wouldn't really knock someone for buying a BMW if they could afford it, but that gets on peoples nerves less than a slight more costly than average mass market item, like a Mac, because... well I don't know. Maybe the average punter never meets a guy with a BMW.

Irish Guitarist

For about the third of the price of an iPad you can buy a much better laptop that includes fancy high tech things like a CD drive.

You can then log on to Windows, go online, download Linux and burn it to a CD. Put the CD in your laptop, restart it, follow some simple instructions and you have an operating system that isn't Windows (as well as actually still being able to keep Windows if you ever wish to use it again).

You can then download pretty much whatever you need for free. I have a music editing program (Audacity) that I downloaded for free which is as good as any commercial program, a video editing program and loads of games. Anytime I think of a program I need I do a search and it's usually available for free.

I'm far from being a technical wizard but I find Ubuntu incredibly easy to use. It's also far less annoying than Windows. There are updates, but it doesn't force you to restart your computer after you've downloaded them.

Duggys Housemate

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

For about the third of the price of an iPad you can buy a much better laptop that includes fancy high tech things like a CD drive.

You can then log on to Windows, go online, download Linux and burn it to a CD. Put the CD in your laptop, restart it, follow some simple instructions and you have an operating system that isn't Windows (as well as actually still being able to keep Windows if you ever wish to use it again).

You can then download pretty much whatever you need for free. I have a music editing program (Audacity) that I downloaded for free which is as good as any commercial program, a video editing program and loads of games. Anytime I think of a program I need I do a search and it's usually available for free.

I'm far from being a technical wizard but I find Ubuntu incredibly easy to use. It's also far less annoying than Windows. There are updates, but it doesn't force you to restart your computer after you've downloaded them.

For a third of the price of a fridge I can use ice. ( And I doubt you can get anything for 1/3 the price of a iPad mini). Look, cheap people will be cheap. You can buy decent furniture, or cheap stuff, badly designed, and fugly, and put it together yourself ( whenever you apply your own labour things are cheaper). It won't re-sell.

The world is full of stuff which is cheaper than other stuff. Only Apple causes the group-thinkers to get mad.

And I have never found a ( proper) open source program in any way as good as something which is commercially maintained. By proper, I mean that there is not a large company behind it - that code is generally maintained by employees like all software.

Dont upset the apple fanboy

Duggys Housemate

urbanledge wrote: »

Dont upset the apple fanboy

How about this. Have some arguments that back up your case.

Freddy Smelly

Pilotdude5 wrote: »

A landline phone.

these are necessary if you live in the sticks with poor mobile coverage or cant get upc broadband

humbert

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

For about the third of the price of an iPad you can buy a much better laptop that includes fancy high tech things like a CD drive.

You can then log on to Windows, go online, download Linux and burn it to a CD. Put the CD in your laptop, restart it, follow some simple instructions and you have an operating system that isn't Windows (as well as actually still being able to keep Windows if you ever wish to use it again).

You can then download pretty much whatever you need for free. I have a music editing program (Audacity) that I downloaded for free which is as good as any commercial program, a video editing program and loads of games. Anytime I think of a program I need I do a search and it's usually available for free.

I'm far from being a technical wizard but I find Ubuntu incredibly easy to use. It's also far less annoying than Windows. There are updates, but it doesn't force you to restart your computer after you've downloaded them.

CD drive. Shudders.

Wibbs

keithclancy wrote: »

I'd tend to disagree, when Mac OS goes tits up you're banjaxed since the majority of Mac users are pointy clicky Internet Surfers, there's not as much information on how to resolve it.

Eh hardly KC, Google is your friend there. Dealing with both apple and MS OS's on a near daily basis and over the years I have found that the Apple OS's while having faults like any OS is generally less hassle overall, especially when faults creep in. Take your example there, if the OS goes tits up and you get a flashing ? on startup(and your drive hasn't kicked the silicon bucket) getting back up and running is pretty easy, especially since Lion and Time Machine came along. Boot from the Lion partition, run the utility and if that doesn't work, you can just reinstall the system and away you go. If it's completely banjaxxed, wipe your partiton, reinstall the system and retrieve the time machine backup and again you're away on a hack(pre lion? Run from your original CD's and do the same as above). There ya go, copypasta the above into a file somewhere. no charge Pretty straightforward and will work for the vast majority of issues. Easier than on Windows that's for sure. I reckon I could write a post, which wouldn't even be as long as some of mine that if you printed it out would solve 90% of mac os issues.

Other handy things with mac os? One really handy thing is apps tend to be stored as packages, so dump the icon for the app in the trash and it's uninstalled. No more longwinded uninstall procedure required.

There is also more consistency between apps on the mac platform. The GUI stuff tends to be in the same place for the majority of apps. While I like windows for a few purposes I also find it puts more steps in your way while working. I find mac "quicker" to use. Generally.

Colour and font management is well ahead of windows and is so out of the box.

You can if you choose, run more systems on a mac platform without hacking around. On my macbook I"ve two flavours of mac os and windows 7(I'm so out of touch :)) and I could install some flavour of Linux if I wanted to. All supported and easy to do. Now you could try to run a Hackintosh on a pc, but it's messy.

I know it's the usual one trotted out, but it still holds, security. While MS has come on in leaps and bounds, the mac platform is still more secure from viruses and other attacks. Though not advised a mac user can run their macs with no third party anti virus/security software at all and get away with it and the majority do. Although they are much better than in the past(when Windows was stupidly vulnerable) try doing same on windows. The old reasoning that "oh mac is a a tiny minority so aren't attacked" has kinda lost it's argument these days as there are a lot more of them and you can be sure the more rabid eejit "haters" have tried.

Oh and another handy one is when some Indian eejit calls you on skype from "windows security" you can tell him to "fcuk off I've a mac".

Your also limited to the accessories you can use and there's a huge markup on the stuff.

Which accessories? Monitors, storage, input devices are usually compatible with both.

Apple have a massive margin on hardware, they give their employees a 27% Discount on Hardware and they still make a profit.

I'd agree there. Their markup is decidedly "luxury" alright and you most certainly can get more reasonable setups on the PC side and defo get way cheaper and often better setups in the phone/pad area, though equal spec for equal spec in lap/desktops the diffs aren't that big or not as big as some seem to think. But yea they are pricey.

Call Apple support and they'll tell you to 'reset the PRAM' and charge you money unless you have that Applecare b0llocks outside your 90 days phone support.

Again I'd not bother with apple support myself. Like I said Google support will sort you out more often and for nada(if you can access it of course)

I've some experience of Linux, but not enough to make much in teh way of informed comment, but what I have used of it I liked some aspects, but it's still a bit "out there" for non geeks/power users. I have been impressed by it though.

Wibbs

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

For about the third of the price of an iPad you can buy a much better laptop that includes fancy high tech things like a CD drive. .

Ehh the ipad 2 yokes start at 400 quid and top out around the 500 quid mark. So for around 130 to 160 quid you can buy a better laptop? Not unless it's second hand. If you were talking about a better pad for the money or less then I'd agree 100%, but most of the cheap laptops are cheap for a reason(don't get me wrong I think it's bloody amazing what you can get and use productively for so little money these days).

Freddy Smelly

lost in cork wrote: »

sky movies ,total waste of money

so is netflix. all old movies.

Freddy Smelly

Wibbs wrote: »

Eh hardly KC, Google is your friend there. Dealing with both apple and MS OS's on a near daily basis and over the years I have found that the Apple OS's while having faults like any OS is generally less hassle overall, especially when faults creep in. Take your example there, if the OS goes tits up and you get a flashing ? on startup(and your drive hasn't kicked the silicon bucket) getting back up and running is pretty easy, especially since Lion and Time Machine came along. Boot from the Lion partition, run the utility and if that doesn't work, you can just reinstall the system and away you go. If it's completely banjaxxed, wipe your partiton, reinstall the system and retrieve the time machine backup and again you're away on a hack(pre lion? Run from your original CD's and do the same as above). There ya go, copypasta the above into a file somewhere. no charge Pretty straightforward and will work for the vast majority of issues. Easier than on Windows that's for sure. I reckon I could write a post, which wouldn't even be as long as some of mine that if you printed it out would solve 90% of mac os issues.

Other handy things with mac os? One really handy thing is apps tend to be stored as packages, so dump the icon for the app in the trash and it's uninstalled. No more longwinded uninstall procedure required.

There is also more consistency between apps on the mac platform. The GUI stuff tends to be in the same place for the majority of apps. While I like windows for a few purposes I also find it puts more steps in your way while working. I find mac "quicker" to use. Generally.

Colour and font management is well ahead of windows and is so out of the box.

You can if you choose, run more systems on a mac platform without hacking around. On my macbook I"ve two flavours of mac os and windows 7(I'm so out of touch :)) and I could install some flavour of Linux if I wanted to. All supported and easy to do. Now you could try to run a Hackintosh on a pc, but it's messy.

I know it's the usual one trotted out, but it still holds, security. While MS has come on in leaps and bounds, the mac platform is still more secure from viruses and other attacks. Though not advised a mac user can run their macs with no third party anti virus/security software at all and get away with it and the majority do. Although they are much better than in the past(when Windows was stupidly vulnerable) try doing same on windows. The old reasoning that "oh mac is a a tiny minority so aren't attacked" has kinda lost it's argument these days as there are a lot more of them and you can be sure the more rabid eejit "haters" have tried.

Oh and another handy one is when some Indian eejit calls you on skype from "windows security" you can tell him to "fcuk off I've a mac".
Which accessories? Monitors, storage, input devices are usually compatible with both.

I'd agree there. Their markup is decidedly "luxury" alright and you most certainly can get more reasonable setups on the PC side and defo get way cheaper and often better setups in the phone/pad area, though equal spec for equal spec in lap/desktops the diffs aren't that big or not as big as some seem to think. But yea they are pricey.

Again I'd not bother with apple support myself. Like I said Google support will sort you out more often and for nada(if you can access it of course)

I've some experience of Linux, but not enough to make much in teh way of informed comment, but what I have used of it I liked some aspects, but it's still a bit "out there" for non geeks/power users. I have been impressed by it though.

bart PE with norton ghost on a cd is a godsend for IT.

boot basic xp in bart pe from cd... then norton ghost a backed up image and in 10 mins the pc is ready to use again